


At the end of the day...

by SapphicScholar



Series: Supercat Week 2019 [3]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Flashback fic, Fluff, One smut scene, field hockey au meeting, landed on time but human au, more feelings than intended
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 22:54:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20897468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphicScholar/pseuds/SapphicScholar
Summary: As Cat stepped back up to her seat beside Kara, someone called out: “How many years?”Cat glanced down at Kara, and they shared a smile. “55 years together,” Kara yelled back.“45 years of marriage, if you count when it was still illegal,” Cat chimed in, clicking back on the microphone so that she didn’t have to yell. “Or 32 years since our first legal wedding.”Kara grinned up at Cat, then winked at the room as she finished: “And 25 years since the wedding that finally stuck.”Or the story of Cat and Kara's life together, told through flashbacks and shared memories





	At the end of the day...

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So this fic combines parts of both of the prompts since it’s an arrived on time (but human) AU but written from the future as they look back over the years together
> 
> If smut isn't your thing, there's only one smut scene, but it's a hard M. It's in the longest of the college memory scenes if you want to skip it.

The soft clink of metal on glass drew everyone’s eyes up to the front of the room where Cat stood, looking as polished as ever, holding a flute of champagne aloft. Her eyes sought out Kara’s from across the room, and a soft smile reserved for her alone curled up the corners of Cat’s mouth. Kara grinned before pointing at the unused cane hidden beneath their table; after so many years of heels, which Cat still hadn’t given up, she’d finally dealt with a hip replacement surgery that she all but denied she was having until she was half-sedated in the operating room. Cat just rolled her eyes. She’d been doing her PT, thank you very much, and she wasn’t about to let the clashing colors ruin the aesthetic of any pictures being taken.

“We want to thank you all for joining us to celebrate this special day. As we’ve aged—”

“Still not old!” a voice from the crowd rang out, and Cat nodded approvingly.

“Perhaps I should say as the years have gone by, we’ve been reminded of just how important it is to find time to be together. And you know I won’t say no to a proper black tie affair.” Low laughter rumbled through the room. “So Kara and I thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules and traveling—sometimes thousands of miles—to be with us to celebrate this anniversary. Here’s to another year of good health and grand memories.”

Glasses clinked and mingled with the sound of murmured, “Cheers,” all across the tables.

As Cat stepped back up to her seat beside Kara, someone called out: “How many years?”

Cat glanced down at Kara, and they shared a smile. “55 years together,” Kara yelled back.

“45 years of marriage, if you count when it was still illegal,” Cat chimed in, clicking back on the microphone so that she didn’t have to yell. “Or 32 years since our first legal wedding.”

Kara grinned up at Cat, then winked at the room as she finished: “And 25 years since the wedding that finally stuck.”

“You make it sound like we were the ones ending things all those other times,” Cat grumbled once the microphone was off.

“Mm, well, I do recall you threatening to leave me a few times.”

“You let our son drive my Mercedes the first day he got his license.”

“I’m just saying.”

“Besides,” Cat added, jabbing a finger into Kara’s chest, “I have a distinct memory of you breaking up with me for 30 whole seconds when I finished your ice cream.”

“It was my lucky pre-exam ice cream!”

“You still got an A, didn’t you?”

“Yeah…but maybe I could have gotten an A+. We’ll never know now.”

Their bickering was interrupted by a quiet tapping on another microphone that had been brought up to the front of the room while they were distracted.

“Uh, hi there everyone.” Carter smiled out at the room, fidgeting just a little in front of the crowd. “Now, I’m not really one for making big speeches—I’ll leave that to my moms—but I wanted to find a way to honor their anniversary that might also be a kind of gift to them.”

“Did you know about this?” Cat whispered as a screen descended behind Carter.

“I might have had an inkling… He started asking about old photos a few weeks ago, but I assumed it would just be for a photo album or something.”

“Some of you already know all about how my moms met and fell in love and everything, but given what an accomplishment 55 years is, I thought we might all learn a little something from their story.”

He pressed a button and the screen lit up with what looked like an old-fashioned storybook cover.

“It starts way back in…well, I think Mom would kill me if I used the real years, even if everyone can do the math, but let’s just say that the 80s fashion is real.” He earned a hearty chorus of laughs and cheers for that, and they only grew louder as the first image appeared of Cat and Kara standing side by side, arms thrown around one another, bundled up in thick winter coats, backlit by the glow of Boston’s Christmas tree. “Now without further ado, I’m going to hand off the mic and let a few people who knew them better over the years show off some of the best pictures I could find for the occasion.”

As he stepped to the side, he passed the microphone along to an older woman who made her way up to the front of the room. “For those of you who don’t know me as well as Cat and Kara do, I’m Angie. And since everyone should know, I’m most definitely not the only person in this room who should be using a cane right now.” She shot a pointed look at Cat, who glared back at her before finally cracking and smiling. “What can I say, years of field hockey reeked havoc on the old knees, and one finally gave out on me, just like that one’s hip. But what you’re really all waiting for are the photos of Cat in plaid kilts, so let’s get on with it.” Suddenly the screen was filled with the 1985 Radcliffe field hockey team’s yearbook photo, and Angie used her cane to point out Cat and Kara. “Believe it or not, these two didn’t always get along, but after months of fighting, let’s just say they found a way…” A loud wolf-whistle echoed through the room.

“Think you could still pull off that plaid kilt?” Kara asked her voice low as she leaned into Cat’s side.

“I don’t know. You gonna pull out those big hair ribbons again, number 4?”

“Whatever does it for you,” Kara said with a wink.

“God, do you remember those first few weeks?”

“How could I forget?”

\---

_Kara had been practically buzzing with excitement all week over the arrival of the new recruits whose numbers would be rounded out with a few extra bodies pulled from general tryouts at the end of the month. She hadn’t gone to a high school with a solid enough reputation for athletics to know anything about recruitment herself, but she still remembered the thrill of going through tryouts, followed by a massive party at the house the captain rented along with three of the other seniors. She’d had plenty of friends in high school, but that was the first time a community had sprung up so quickly and felt like a second family so easily. She was beyond ready to share that experience with a new group of freshmen, who, if they were anything like she had been, would be filled with equal parts excitement and anxiety. _

_“Alright, ladies, you ready to show ’em the old Radcliffe welcome?” Angie yelled out._

_Everyone cheered in response, crowding behind Angie as she straightened the Captain band that had been given to her after Lindsey’s last game of the season. _

_“Then let’s go find those recruits!” _

_The group surged forward, bottlenecking slightly at the narrow entrance to the locker room before managing to make their way out and jog over to the field. Kara grinned at the site of the large “Welcome Class of 1989!” banner and the bunches of balloons she’d helped to blow up and tie to the fence early that morning. _

_Moments later, their head coach Maureen emerged with four new players in tow. “Meet your new family for the next several years,” she said as she nudged them toward the practically vibrating mass of high ponytails and bright ribbons and tiny, colorful shorts._

_As Angie welcomed the new players and introduced them to the team, Kara took in the four additions. There was one girl with curly red hair who looked as nervous as if she were cramming for a test as she listened to all the names being listed out at her. Kara was fairly certain the shorter girl with long, brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail was the new goalie who would be especially important since their second keeper had graduated last year. Then there was a lanky brunette clad in bright blue leggings who was bouncing on the balls of her feet, as if she couldn’t wait to get out there and meet everyone and start playing; Kara liked her right away. She was a lot less sure about the tiny blonde standing to the side of the bunch whose arms were folded across her chest, her lips pursed as she seemed to cast a critical gaze on everything around her. (Years later, Kara would come to realize that was how Cat treated all situations that made her a little nervous.)_

_“Alright, now today we won’t run a full practice, but we want you to start getting to know the people whose positions you’re playing and the triangle you’ll be most involved in. So Julie and Tina?” The redhead and the one Kara thought was a goalkeeper perked up. “We’ve got you listed as sweeper and keeper, so you’re gonna go work with Patti and Louisa, and they’ll introduce you to the rest of our defense.” As they headed down towards one of the goals, Angie turned to the lanky brunette. “Karen, you’re still playing left inner, right?” _

_“Yep!” Karen nodded as she looked around to see who she might be heading to meet. _

_“Alright, the starting left side of the field is gonna be Kim, Mary, and Lisa, so they’ll get you introduced to some of our offensive plays.”_

_Kim reached out and guided Karen over to the other side of the field, already chattering on about the team and the importance of the totally undervalued left side._

_“And Catherine?”_

_“It’s Cat,” the small blonde said._

_“Alright, well our normal starting right wing is actually recovering from a pretty nasty fracture right now, so if we can get you acclimated to our style of play fast enough, you’ll probably see a lot of field time in those early games. But that’s going to mean a lot of work, alright?” _

_The girl arched an eyebrow. “Would I really be here if I weren’t ready to put in the work?” _

_Glancing around her, Kara tried to figure out if anyone else was getting some bad vibes from the new girl. _

_“I’m the inside offense on the right, so you and I will work together a lot,” Angie explained, taking Cat’s comment in stride, “but Kara and Pam switch off and on between right and center midfield, so we’re gonna spend a lot of time with them too. But don’t worry, they’re some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. You’re gonna fit right in.” _

_Cat flashed what looked like a fake-looking smile. _

_Kara severely doubted that she’d fit right in with a group of nice people. _

\---

Angie hit the remote and glanced behind her to make sure the screen was still working like Carter promised it would. “Here’s a photo from the first game they played together.”

A scanned polaroid image appeared, and Kara practically choked on her water. She _definitely_ hadn’t seen that one before.

“Can’t you just see the love?”

In the background of the image, Kara could be seen pointing downfield with her mouth open wide, while Cat’s arms were crossed tightly, her eyes narrowed in her signature glare.

“Love at first sight with these two, really. Definitely never an issue for their poor, overworked team captain who was just trying to pass biology to graduate…”

\---

_“I was wide open,” Cat hissed at Kara when their coach called for a quick timeout._

_“To do what? Try to sprint down the field for some breakaway, ignoring everyone else you’re supposed to be playing with?” _

_“I can’t help it if I’m faster.” _

_Kara snorted, grimacing as some of her water stung the back of her throat and nose. “We’ve done sprints together at practice. You’re not faster than me.” _

_“But I’m faster than the inside offense.”_

_“You mean our captain? Wanna go say that to her face?” _

_“Unlike you, she’d understand. She actually wants everyone to play to their strengths and wouldn’t try to sabotage someone by refusing to pass the ball to them literally ever!” _

_“I’m not—”_

_“Grant! Zorel! Get over here,” Maureen yelled, tapping her clipboard with her pen as they jogged back over._

_“Sorry,” they mumbled in unison as they fell in line to listen to the coach’s pep talk and feedback._

\---

“What’s really funny is that they thought they could hide their relationship from the people they spent most of their waking hours with when they weren’t in classes.” Angie clicked to the next image of the two of them curled together on a couch, Cat’s legs draped over Kara’s lap, and Kara’s fingers busy tucking a lock of Cat’s hair behind her ear. “As you can see, they were natural born spies. The peak of subtlety these too.”

Kara blushed as she ducked her head. That picture had definitely been taken many, many months before they’d even thought about telling people, let alone started to.

“Let’s just remember: we went from this”—she clicked back to the photo of them fighting—“to this”—and then forward to them cuddling—“in a matter of weeks. But yeah, no one noticed anything.”

“Astronauts can see her eyeroll,” Cat grumbled, but she squeezed Kara’s hand tightly in her own, looking wistfully up at the old photograph. She could still remember the game when everything changed, even if it hadn’t exactly been _love_ in the beginning.

\---

_“That’s a corner, you sure you’re okay to fly?” Kara asked as she jogged alongside Cat to the goal cage. _

_“God, could you give me any credit? I was fine last game.” She’d managed to intercept the ball once, taking a fast break down the field until she was clear to pass it up to Angie, and the other time she’d been lucky in having the receiver fumble the ball, losing it easily to a bit of deft maneuvering on Cat’s part. _

_“I’ve done it before, too. That shit’s scary, no matter how good you are or how many times you’ve done it.” _

_“I’m fine.”_

_“Then don’t come crying to me if you get hurt,” Kara grumbled, taking her place between Cat and Patti, ready to trail Cat and play backup for anything that might make it past her. _

_At the ref’s whistle, the ball went flying, and Cat went sprinting after it, stick down, body low to the ground. Only this time she didn’t manage to outpace the hit. And the receiver didn’t hesitate in the slightest, taking a quick dribble inside the circle and sending the ball flying forward—and fast. _

_Close as she was, Kara couldn’t see past Cat’s body, but she heard the thump and the groan of pain as Cat crumpled forward._

_“Cat!” _

_Kara practically shoved the other team’s receiver out of the way as the ref’s whistle sounded from somewhere off to the side. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that Cat was hurt. Hurt badly enough to still be on the ground, body curled in on itself. _

_“Medic!” Kara yelled as she dropped to her knees, putting an arm around Cat’s back. “Cat?” Her voice was softer then, barely over a whisper. “Hey, I need you to tell me what got hit. Can you do that?”_

_“Knee,” Cat managed through gritted teeth._

_“Side or front?”_

_“I don’t—front. Right on the kneecap, I think.”_

_“Good, that’s good.”_

_“Doesn’t feel good,” Cat snapped. _

_“Less likely to be broken this way. It’s pretty damn hard to break a knee right at its strongest point.” Kara felt Cat’s shuddering exhale beneath her hand through the thin fabric of her jersey. “It’s gonna be okay. You’re gonna be just fine.” _

_A moment later, the medic arrived and took Kara’s place at Cat’s side. She hovered close enough to listen as he asked questions, moving Cat into a new position and testing her range of motion before helping her to stand and, once he determined that she could gingerly put weight on it, hobble off the field. _

_Kara played the rest of the game in something of a daze, and it wasn’t until she had a yellow card pulled on her for repeated and aggressive fouls against the very player who’d hit Cat with the ball that she realized she might be taking out her worry on the person who’d caused it in the first place. _

_It wasn’t until they had called the game for them, 3-2, and Kara was off the field hearing that Cat would be fine—just badly bruised—that the tension she’d been carrying deep in her bones seemed to ease out of her. She wasn’t sure why she cared so much, but she knew some part of her wouldn’t be okay until she’d gotten to see Cat for herself. So after they debriefed and the rest of the team headed to the locker room to shower and change, Kara ducked into the team medic’s office. The place still made her shudder a little at memories of her own injury scares during the last season. She found Cat stretched out on one of the tables, an ice pack secured on top of her knee and her leg elevated on a stack of pillows. _

_“How’s it going?”_

_“What? Come to gloat?”_

_“Wha—no. Why would I…? You know what, nevermind. I’m sorry I came.” _

_As Kara stormed back to the doorway, Cat’s voice called out from behind her. “Wait!” _

_“What?” Kara barely turned around and made no moves to come any closer. _

_“I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry, okay?”_

_Kara’s eyebrows shot up. She hadn’t been expecting a real, honest to God apology. “You’re, um, forgiven. I know it sucks to get pulled from a game.” _

_Cat nodded sullenly. “Did we win at least?”_

_“Yeah, 3-2.”_

_“Good.”_

_“I got a yellow card. My first one.”_

_“What? You? No way!”_

_“Yep. Apparently I got a little aggressive with that receiver.”_

_“Really? Defending my honor or something, Zorel?”_

_Kara shrugged. _

_“My hero.” _

_They both froze at that. Cat was sure she’d intended it to sound mocking, but it seemed to drip with a kind of flirtatious sincerity. Kara wanted to laugh it off, but she could feel her cheeks burning. _

_“I, um, I should shower,” Kara said._

_“Yeah. I need to get up and do that too. I’m still all sweaty from the game.”_

_“Oh. Do you, uh, need a hand?”_

_Cat’s throat bobbed as she swallowed. After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded, pulling herself up and holding out an elbow for Kara to help her down. _

_By the time they made it down to the locker room, the rest of the team was long since gone, probably headed to Angie’s house for a victory party before they trudged back to their dorms to finish the papers and readings they’d put off for too many days. _

_“Can you stand on your own?” Kara asked._

_“I’m not helpless,” Cat scoffed, only to wince the moment she tried distributing her weight evenly on both legs. _

_“C’mon, Angie would kill me if I let you slip and die in the shower after Coach promised her that her right wing would be just fine.” _

_“Whatever.”_

_Kara left Cat leaning up against a wall as she turned on the water in the larger handicapped stall, figuring Cat could use the railing for a bit of support while Kara scrubbed herself clean. _

_When she came back out, she found Cat stripping out of her uniform. It wasn’t like they’d never seen each other naked. Hell, the whole team had dealt with communal showers more than once at away games, and the locker room was always full of people in varying states of undress. But somehow there was something different in knowing they were the only two there, in feeling her heart still pounding with fear and adrenaline and maybe something else, in hearing the echo of Cat’s, “My hero,” ringing in her ears again and again. _

_“You gonna shower in your uniform?” Cat asked, arching an eyebrow as she gestured towards Kara’s sweaty jersey and skirt._

_With a shake of her head, Kara silently chastised herself for getting distracted and whipped her shirt and sticky sports bra over her head in one go, before shimmying out of the skirt and spandex shorts she always wore beneath it. When she stood back up, she swore she saw Cat’s gaze lingering on her. She shook it off._

_Once they were in the shower, Kara was careful to keep her eyes to herself. At least until she heard Cat let out a huff of annoyance. _

_“What now?” Kara asked._

_“Are you really gonna stay huddled in the corner? Do you hate me that much? Or are you just scared you might turn gay if you shower with another woman?”_

_Kara scoffed as she turned around, already scowling. “Seriously? What’s your problem? I have been nothing but nice to you, and you’re just mean!”_

_“No, no, no, Kara, you’re not getting away with that. You’re perfectly sweet to everyone but me. You took Tina out to dinner to celebrate her first save. You made Julie brownies for her quarter birthday. And what the hell even is a quarter birthday?”_

_“It’s exactly three months before your birthday!”_

_“It’s not a real thing!” Cat yelled, gesturing wildly enough to fling water into Kara’s face. _

_Kara spluttered for a moment before cupping her hands and sending a large handful of water flying at Cat._

_“Hey!” Cat cried out, nearly losing her balance as she tried to step back._

_Kara lunged forward and wrapped her hand around Cat’s upper arm, steadying her. “I’ve got you.”_

_“Why not let me fall? Wouldn’t you prefer it that way?”_

_“Don’t you get it? I was terrified when you got hurt.”_

_“Why?”_

_“Because—because—I don’t know, okay? You’re so annoying, and you think you’re better than everyone, but—”_

_“I work my ass off, and I’m allowed to be proud of that._

_“—I still don’t want you to be hurt, and I wanted to hurt that girl who made you cry, and I never, ever want to hurt people.” _

_Suddenly Cat’s lips were pressed against Kara’s. _

_When Kara froze, Cat yanked her head back. “Sorry, I don’t know—”_

_“Come back here,” Kara whispered, using the hand that was still clutched around Cat’s bicep to pull her forward again. And that time she wasn’t content to let Cat take the lead, while she stood frozen. No, that time she wrapped her arms around Cat to hold her steady, drawing her ever closer as her lips grew pliant beneath Cat’s insistent kisses. The light sting of Cat’s nails raking down her back spurred Kara on, and she half-carried Cat to the wall, letting her grab onto the railings to steady herself as Kara dipped her head forward, trailing heated kisses down Cat’s neck, interspersing them with gentle bites that still made her hiss and roll her hips harder against Kara. _

_The fact that the water still spraying Kara’s back had grown cold didn’t matter. Not when the heat of Cat’s skin pressed against her had turned her blood molten, making every part of her burn with need. _

_As Kara’s hands moved up to cup at Cat’s breasts, Cat shifted all her weight to her good side, letting her free hand trail down Kara’s abs. As the muscles jumped and tensed beneath Cat’s fingertips, Kara’s breathing grew shallower and shallower. She let out a strangled groan as Cat’s hand slipped between her thighs. _

_“Cat,” Kara breathed out, her head dropping to Cat’s shoulder as she widened her stance enough to better accommodate Cat’s hand. And then deft fingers were slipping up and over her clit. “Oh my—Cat…feels good. So good.” _

_As Kara’s legs began to tremble, Cat leaned forward, letting her lips brush against Kara’s ear as she whispered: “I should’ve guessed it’d be this easy.”_

_Kara pulled back, her eyes gleaming with an unspoken challenge. Cat’s smirk vanished as Kara stepped forward, wrapping one strong arm around Cat as the other slipped between Cat’s legs._

_“Knew you’d be wet,” Kara whispered, deciding the deep blush she knew would be coloring her cheeks was worth it for the way Cat’s whole body shuddered, hips canting forward at her words._

_For years, they’d never agree on who it was that finally came first. Kara maintained that it was only the sight of Cat’s coming that pushed her over the edge. Cat’s argument was simply that she always won. _

\---

“Eventually they started telling people,” Angie continued. “I don’t blame them for being nervous, but I don’t think they could’ve found a better group of people to support that new relationship. Even if we were all half-terrified about what would happen to our right-side offense if they ever broke up.” The small group of Radcliffe field hockey alums cackled loudly, raising their glasses into the air. “But god, what a team they were. Still are.” Angie glanced at the back of the room and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, alright I’m getting the ‘keep it moving’ sign from Carter. Really is your kid too, huh, Cat?” Kara snorted with laughter. “Here’s to both of you! May we all find a partner like that. Now I believe it’s Lois Lane’s turn with the microphone, and I wouldn’t want to steal her time.”

As everyone clapped, Angie handed the mic off to Lois who sent a wink in Cat’s direction before taking center stage. “I’m sure that everyone who knows me might think I’m up here just to take a few easy shots at Cat. I mean, I could certainly tell you stories you’d barely believe about a time in her life when she wasn’t the mighty Cat Grant, CEO of an international media empire.”

“I’m sure she won’t,” Kara whispered, though memories of Cat’s own toast—though perhaps roast was the better word—at Lois’ 70th birthday party still lingered in the air.

“I could talk about the time she tripped in front of _The Daily Planet_’s biggest advertiser and spilled coffee all over his shoes.” Half the room seemed to freeze as they glanced over at Cat to gauge her reaction. “Or I could tell you about how mad she was when she came running back with what she thought was breaking news, only to find me turning in a full draft of a first story on it.”

Cat’s lips pursed, but Kara was fluent enough in Cat Grant to see the barely concealed smile beneath the affectations of annoyance. Really, they wouldn’t be Cat and Lois if they weren’t at each other’s throats, which really meant: “I care.”

“But today’s about Cat _and Kara_. And I got to know the happy couple pretty damn well over the years. Don’t get me wrong: the first time Cat introduced me to Kara it was as her ‘friend and roommate,’ which everyone believed for about three seconds. Because all it takes is three seconds in their presence to see the way everything else fades away when they’re together. Like they have their own language and their own world, and we’re all just guests in it for as long as they’ll let us stay.” A quiet _aww_ rippled through the crowd. “I only picked one photo for my turn here because I think it’s all you need to see a little piece of what they share.”

The last picture faded away as a new one replaced it. A young Kara stood at the front of the table, carefully lowering a birthday cake down in front of Cat, the flames of the candles flickering and dancing with the movement. But Cat wasn’t looking at the cake, beautifully decorated as it was. No, she only had eyes for Kara as she beamed up at her, wholly unaware that someone was taking a photo.

\---

_“You sure you want to tell them?” Kara asked, wrapping an arm around Cat and resting her head on her shoulder. _

_Cat nodded resolutely. She had never been one to back away from a challenge, and she damn well wasn’t about to start now. “I’m tired of hiding you from them.”_

_“I’ve met your coworkers before.”_

_“As my roommate. As a friend. But you…you mean a lot more to me than that, Kara.”_

_“I know. But it’s okay to be nervous. Or to want to tell people one at a time instead of all at once.” _

_Cat shook her head. If she told one or two people, they might be the ones to tell other people, and suddenly it wasn’t Cat’s story to tell; it’d become gossip, something that made it sound tawdry and illicit. And sure, maybe the first few months of their…well, it wasn’t quite a relationship yet, but it was something…had been spent fucking in empty locker rooms and showers and dorm rooms when their roommates were guaranteed to be gone, but they were beyond that now. They’d moved in together. There was more than just the implication of a shared future that neither of them saw coming to a close anytime soon. “I’m ready.” _

_So that night, when Cat’s friends from _The Daily Planet_ came over for her birthday dinner, Cat proposed a toast. She held her glass high, making eye contact with each of them in turn. “It’s been a wonderful year of new friends and found family and finally—finally!—getting to be more than Perry’s assistant. But even when things were hard—and I think we all remember the chair crashing through that window—I’ve had someone by my side to make it all easier.” She reached her hand out and tangled her fingers with Kara’s. “So here’s to another happy year.” _

_After a long beat of silence, Lois raised her glass high. “And here’s to having someone as wonderful as Kara hard at work keeping Cat’s ego in check!”_

_Cat had scowled then, but later that night, as everyone was getting their coats and bags, Kara had overheard Cat whispering a very sincere, “Thank you,” to Lois before she could leave. _

\---

All eyes searched around the room for the next speaker once Lois stepped down, finally landing on an older man getting a quick refill at the bar; it wouldn’t do to give anyone bad luck by toasting with an empty glass.

“Sorry, sorry,” he muttered as he wound his way through the tables to the front of the room. “Dammit, Carter, can you hit the—?” The image on the screen shifted to one of Cat and Kara on the beach, Kara sliding a ring onto Cat’s finger. “Thank you, my dear!” The man cleared his throat. “Now I don’t know most of you here tonight, and I don’t think most of you know me. I’m Giorgio, though that doesn’t really matter.” Someone began to protest, be he waved them off. “No, no, this shouldn’t be my story to tell. This story belongs to Patrick, who was the love of my life for 15 wonderful years, and it belongs to Cat and Kara. But since we aren’t about the make the couple of the hour work at their own celebration, Carter invited me to share a memory from way back in 1995.”

The image faded into a new one; this time Cat and Kara were kissing, a few dozen people gathered around them smiling and wiping at their eyes.

“For those of you too young to remember, we gays couldn’t always get married here. Oh, we could make the flower arrangements and sing and decorate and dress the happy couple, but we were always supposed to be on the sidelines. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. But I think we all know just how well Cat does with being told no. And when you pair that with how adamant Kara gets about anything she sees as an injustice? Well…these two weren’t about to let someone else dictate their lives.”

Kara pressed a soft kiss to Cat’s cheek. “Asking you to marry me was the best decision I ever made.”

Cat let out a little huff of laughter, but she still let herself be drawn further into Kara’s arms as she murmured, “Darling, I don’t think you asked so much as you told me.”

\---

_Cat hummed as she felt Kara curl up around her in bed. Everything was right. Dinner had been perfectly cooked. The wine had been exactly to her specifications. The sex had been as phenomenal as it always was. And now they had the rare weekend off, and the sheets were soft, and Kara’s bare skin was even softer, and there was absolutely nothing that could pull her from this bed until she was good and ready._

_“Cat,” Kara whispered._

_“Hmm?” Cat murmured, still half-asleep. _

_“Cat.”_

_“Already? Here I thought I wore you out.”_

_“I was thinking.”_

_There was something in Kara’s voice that made Cat roll over and open her eyes to see Kara properly. “About?”_

_“We’ve been together for 10 whole years.” _

_Cat nodded slowly. “Mhmm. I thought that’s what today’s celebratory dinner was all about.”_

_“How long have Dave and Tina been together?” _

_Something was most definitely going on. “I don’t know…”_

_“Five years. What about Patti and Juan?”_

_“Kara, I don’t—”_

_“Four years!” _

_“Okay.”_

_“They’re all married now.” _

_“I know. We were at the ceremonies.” _

_“We’ve been together longer. We’ve gone through more issues and survived all of them. We love each other at least as much, maybe even more.”_

_Cat nodded, trying to figure out exactly where Kara was going._

_“We should be married!”_

_Oh. That again. “I know, dear. And that’s why we’re voting and fighting, and one day—”_

_“No more one day! I hate going to wedding after wedding knowing we deserve one but can’t have one. I hate listening to your…your asshole coworkers act like our relationship doesn’t matter. I hate knowing that I want to spend the rest of my life with you but not being able to call you anything more than my partner. I want you to be my wife, Cat. I want to go out and tell the world I’m married to the best person I’ve ever met.”_

_Swallowing heavily, Cat wiped at the corners of her eyes. “Kara, I—”_

_“Marry me.”_

_“What?”_

_“Marry me.”_

_“I don’t understand.” _

_“Hold on.” _

_Cat could only look on in silence as Kara stormed out of the room completely nude. She could hear rustling in the other room, then finally an, “Aha!” A minute later, Kara strode back into the bedroom and straight to Cat’s side of the bed. She dropped to one knee and held up a makeshift paperclip ring that she’d twisted together. “Cat Grant, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want the whole world to know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Marry me?”_

_“I…” Cat shook her head, willing her eyes to stop tearing up over a twisted little piece of metal. “Yes.” _

_Kara carefully slid the ring onto Cat’s finger, then practically pounced into her lap._

_It wasn’t until the third scrape down her back that drew blood that Kara let Cat take off the ring._

\---

Cat listened as Giorgio recounted the tale of the illegal wedding that Patrick, already showing signs of slowing down, even if he’d outlived most of their friends by that point, had insisted on seeing through to the very end. There was the story of the flowers that nearly went missing. The cake that had to be replaced at the very last minute with dozens of cupcakes from some bakery that Patrick had always sworn had cupcakes even better than sex. The strong wind that threatened to blow sand into everyone’s faces. But by the time Patrick was standing in front of their closest friends and asking the two women to tell the state to go fuck itself and kiss their bride, none of it mattered. All that mattered was being there and getting to witness two women promise to fight the world to stay together until death did them part.

The sound of quiet sniffling could be heard from every corner of the room, and Giorgio looked pleased with himself, saying that Patrick would have been proud to see not a dry eye in the house.

Tanisha, one of Kara’s first coworkers at the publishing house who would go on to become the author to Kara’s illustrator on a series of best-selling children’s books, took the stage next. “That’s a hard act to follow, but I’m here to do justice to a very, very important person in Cat and Kara’s life, so I’m gonna do my best.”

A new photo appeared onscreen, featuring an exhausted-looking Cat and Kara fussing over a tiny baby swaddled in a duck print blanket.

“That’s right, we’ve just about gotten to Carter’s birth now. And can we all give a round of applause to my godson for organizing this whole photo presentation? And just know that for every picture shown here, he had about 200 more options, all of which he’s compiled into a beautiful scanned album for his moms.” Everyone clapped, and Carter ducked his head at his surprise moment back in the spotlight.

“We did good with him, didn’t we?” Kara whispered, using Cat’s discarded cane to reach under the table and poke Carter in the shins, mouthing a silent, “Thank you,” when he looked up.

Cat smiled across the table at Carter, taking in the curly hair that always looked just a little tousled, no matter how much they had fussed with it when he was younger, and the laugh lines that had started to form around the corners of his mouth and eyes. “I’d say we did better than good with that one.”

\---

_Kara ran frantically down the hospital halls in search of a nurse because Cat needed…something. She needed something. And there was jello? But it was the wrong flavor? Or Cat couldn’t eat jello? There was something about jello, definitely. And she was supposed to get coffee for herself. Because apparently it wasn’t good to stay awake for 48 straight hours. But she’d been trying to get work done the night before, and then labor had lasted over 24 hours, and then she was up letting all their family members and friends know, and then she was trying to keep track of visitors and presents and photos and also make sure Cat was okay and tracking down updates about their new baby boy every five minutes because he’d been born a little early, and what if something happened? Shouldn’t they tell them? But what if they didn’t?_

_“Ma’am, are you lost?”_

_Kara stumbled over her feet and stood, blinking, staring at the nurse in front of her but not quite seeing her. _

_“Are you okay, ma’am?”_

_“I, um, there’s a baby. We have a baby. He needs a name still, but we have a baby.” _

_“Do you need me to find—”_

_“No, my wife. She had a baby. A boy. And he’s got these deep blue eyes and her nose—totally her nose.”_

_The nurse bit back a smile. “You haven’t even gotten him home yet, and you’re already not sleeping, huh?”_

_“Oh, just for a couple days.” _

_“Why don’t we get you back to that room. Maybe you can shut your eyes.”_

_“Just for a minute, though. Only a minute. Gotta make sure he’s okay,” she said through a stifled yawn. _

_“But you need to make sure you’re okay too. Remember that for me, will you?”_

_Kara nodded, letting herself be shepherded back to the room, where she found Cat snoring softly—a fact she’d vehemently deny—her phone still open in her hand. _

_“You say that’s your wife?”_

_Kara hummed in assent. _

_“Well why don’t you go follow her example and get a little sleep in while you can. I promise everything’ll be okay.”_

_“Yeah…yeah, okay.”_

\---

After Carter’s birth the events started jumping forward, racing towards the present. There was the opening of CatCo’s headquarters in National City. The tiny courthouse ceremony in the few months when it was actually legal in California. Carter’s high school graduation and the family roadtrip across the country to move him in at Wesleyan, which was the perfect opportunity to go visit their alma mater. The massive formal wedding a year or two after it was legal again (though they’d both later admit that their illegal beach wedding had been much more fun than either of the two that counted). The ceremony for Kara’s first Caldecott Medal. Carter’s wedding and the very carefully choreographed three-person dance for the groom and his mothers. The Cat and Kara they became grandmothers, though Cat nearly sued her own paper after seeing such a title attached to her own name. Cat’s retirement party when she finally stepped down from CatCo’s board (and went and joined the board of two major philanthropic societies within the week, which earned Kara enough money from the family betting pool to take her wife out to a Michelin star restaurant for dinner). And finally, a photo from the weekend before of the two of them sitting out on the beach, Cat’s head resting on Kara’s chest, both of their eyes closed as they sat, wholly at peace with the world and one another.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm excited to catch up on comments and everyone else's fics this weekend!
> 
> I'm on Twitter and Tumblr @sapphicscholar


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